Endotracheal intubation is a known procedure in which a medical provider inserts an endotracheal tube into the trachea of a patient to ventilate the patient with oxygen for life support or with inhalation anesthetic agents for general anesthesia. Endotracheal intubation is also called intubation in medical practice.
In current practice and technique, the medical provider uses his or her left hand to hold a laryngoscope to perform laryngoscopy to visualize the vocal cords which is the opening of the trachea, and uses his or her right hand to hold and insert both the endotracheal tube and a stylet together into the trachea through the vocal cords.
The stylet, which is also called the intubation stylet in medical practice, is generally malleable metal rod or wire, and used to insert into a lumen of an endotracheal tube to stiffen and reshape the endotracheal tube more curved in the front part of the endotracheal tube, or in a shape like a hockey stick, to facilitate the endotracheal tube to turn around the epiglottis and the tongue, and advance over the stylet into the trachea through the vocal cords.
As soon as the front part of the endotracheal tube passes through the vocal cords, the medical provider removes the laryngoscope, uses the left hand to hold the stylet, and then uses the right hand to advance the endotracheal tube over the stylet into the trachea. Sometimes, an assistant is needed to hold the stylet when the medical provider's left hand is still needed to hold the laryngoscope to visualize the vocal cords to make sure that the endotracheal tube is still advanced through the vocal cords, especially in a patient with a difficult airway.
In a situation of a difficult airway, the vocal cords are not visualized with a regular direct laryngoscope, because the vocal cords are located more anteriorly in the anatomy of the patient or the patient has a big tongue or a small chin in the anatomy of the patient. In another situation of a difficult airway, only a small part of the vocal cords is visualized. It may be difficult, or impossible, to insert the endotracheal tube through the vocal cords into the trachea of the patient, or it may be likely to cause mechanical damage to the vocal cords and the trachea during intubation. With use of a video laryngoscope, such as the GlideScope (Trademarked) video laryngoscope, even though the vocal cords are seen in a video screen, it may still be difficult, or even impossible, to insert the endotracheal tube through the vocal cords into the trachea, because of the anterior location of the vocal cords in the patient's anatomy and the difficulty for the endotracheal tube to be turned more around the epiglottis of the patient.
Some medical providers may place and point the tips of both the stylet and the endotracheal tube in direction towards the vocal cords under the epiglottis, and ask for an assistant to hold the stylet still, and then advance the endotracheal tube over the stylet into the trachea through vocal cords. Unfortunately, it may be difficult, or impossible, for the assistant to hold the stylet still and keep pointing the stylet in direction towards the vocal cords, because the assistant is unable to see the vocal cords at the same time and at the same angle as the intubation performer who is performing the laryngoscopy and the intubation. It is very difficult to have good communication and coordination between the intubation performer and the assistant to complete an intubation.